Luminescent properties of Yb-doped LaSc3(BO3)4LaSc3(BO3)4 under VUV excitation

Ytterbium doped borate crystals are promising laser media, e.g. in LaSc3(BO3)4LaSc3(BO3)4 (LSB) matrices large distance between ytterbium ions results in reduced concentration quenching of the ytterbium f–f luminescence [Petermann, K., Fagundes-Peters, D., Johansen, O., Mond, M., Peters, V., Romero, J.J., Kutovoi, S., Speiser, J., Giesen, A., 2005. Highly Yb-doped oxides for thin-disc lasers. J. Crystal Growth 275, 135-140]. Yb3+Yb3+ ions in complex oxides in addition to the 4f →→ 4f transitions often manifest fast charge transfer luminescence (CTL) in the UV-visible range. In some borates it was not observed at all, like in orthoborates of Sc, Y and La [Van Pieterson, L., Heeroma, M., de Heer, E., Meijerink, A., 2000. Charge transfer luminescence of Yb3+Yb3+. J. Lumin. 91, 177–193]; in haloborates Sr2B5O9XSr2B5O9X, where X = Cl, Br, the UV/visible luminescence was attributed to ytterbium CTL though it looked substantially different from other matrices [Dotsenko, V.P., Berezovskaya, I.V., Pyrogenko, P.V., Efryushina, N.P., Rodniy, P.A., Eijk van, C.W.E., Sidorenko, A.V., 2002. Valence states and luminescence properties of ytterbium ions in strontium haloborates. J. Solid State Chem. 166, 271–276]; while in oxyborate Li2Lu5O4(BO3)3Li2Lu5O4(BO3)3 “classical” CTL was observed [Jubera, V., Garcia, A., Chaminade, J.P., Guillen, F., Sablayrolles, Jean, Fouassier, C., 2007. Yb3+Yb3+ and Yb3+-Eu3+Yb3+-Eu3+ luminescent properties of the Li2Lu5O4(BO3)3Li2Lu5O4(BO3)3 phase. J. Lumin. 124(1), 10–14]. In this work the luminescence properties of another borate, namely LSB doped by Yb are presented.